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WHO: Your 7-9 (1-2 AAC) USF Bulls vs. the Tulane Green Wave (11-4, 2-1 AAC).
WHEN AND WHERE: 3pm on ESPN3 from Devlin Fieldhouse (IT'S STILL FOGELMAN TO US DAMMIT) in America's Treasure, New Orleans, LA.
WHY: Because it's nice to have Tulane back in our lives. It sucks employment is keeping me in town this week, because this is the one trip I miss from the C-USA days. Tulane is in a gorgeous place, and you should go at some point.
LINE: Tulane -7.5. Bulls are 1-8-1 against the spread in their last 10, and haven't covered on the road since NC State on Nov. 23rd.
THE OTHER GUYS: Here's our Ryan Smith with FearTheWave.com talking about the game. Hey, it's another AAC blog! Woohoo someone else enjoys misery like us!
Get factor'ed!
<div style="margin:0px auto;text-align:center"><a href="http://statsheet.com/mcb" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none;color:#999;font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11px">NCAA Basketball Stats</a><br /><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://statsheet.com/charts/chartlets/2015/01/11/mcb_games_2015_01_11_2015_01_11_south_florida_vs_tulane_422536.js"></script></div>
USF hasn't shown anything in the last three weeks which makes you think they can go on the road and beat a team that seems better on paper. The Bulls are shooting just 27.6% from three-point range this season, good for 335th out of 351 teams in D1. With the lack of consistent post presence, the Bulls just need to find a way to put the ball in the basket from beyond 20 feet if they're going to beat anyone.
A kind-of-weird zone against UConn did keep the defending champs on the ropes for much of the first half, but when UConn adjusted at halftime, the Bulls had no answers. That's because there's just not a lot of options for Orlando Antigua. He can compete with a few guys... but if those are shut down, there's nowhere else to turn.
Also, the Bulls best offensive lineups seem to be really small. Anthony Collins, Corey Allen Jr., and Dinero Mercurius all on the court at the same time makes USF rather height-inhibited. Ruben Guerrero is a big at 6-11 in the post, but his arms aren't the longest, and defensively he's just not there yet.
Tulane is a guard-oriented team as well, with three backcourt players in Jonathan Stark, Louis Dabney, and Jay Hook their only players averaging over double digits in scoring. They do go deep with 10 players averaging over 10 minutes a game as well.
Tulane is 87th in defensive efficiency (.936 points per possession allowed), which means they're competent in stopping the ball. So nothing in the numbers says what USF has done lately might make you think they could be in this. For them to be in this game, it's pretty simple: USF is going to have to get some long balls to go down, or some player on the roster is going to have to step up.